and it powerfully reminds us of the most overlooked facts of all time:

Is that enough or do you actually need some facts, some evidence based material?

W E L L . . .

9 Reasons Why It’s Never Too Early for

Christmas Decorations

Did you know that Christmas decorations may make you happier? Learn why you should put up your holiday decor now. Start hanging Christmas lights today!

I F Y O U A R E a strict post-Thanksgiving or December-only holiday decorator; Or maybe you don’t put up the tree until the week before Christmas; IF your philosophies on holiday decorating are “the more the merrier” and “the sooner the better.” IF you have doubts about timing, you might reconsider when to decorate for Christmas after you hear this. Plus I’ve got plenty of Christmas decoration ideas to get you started—all of which make you happy, help you connect with the neighbors, and bring some (literal) light to winter gloom.

1. It Could Make You Happier

It turns out that “holiday spirit” isn’t just eggnog. People often associate Christmas decorations with feelings of nostalgia and excitement from childhood, several psychotherapists have explained. Even if this feeling is mixed with sadness, such as when someone has lost a loved one, decorating may help connect to positive memories of that loved one.

2. It’ll Make Your Neighbors Like You

A study found that people shown photos of houses rated the residents of a home adorned with Christmas decorations as more friendly and sociable versus houses sans decor. The decorated houses were seen as more “open” or accessible, regardless of whether their inhabitants actually interacted much with their neighbors. This makes a lot of sense; if everyone in the neighborhood decorates and you join in, it fosters a sense of community. So, go on, display your wreaths with pride—and maybe surprise the family next door with some holiday cookies!

3. Christmas Desserts

Did someone say cookies? OK, so maybe they aren’t technically decor, but we think early holiday baking is a good reason to dust off that Santa-shape cookie jar. Besides, colorful treats are decorations in their own right. Desserts are one of the best parts of the holiday season, and there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy them any day of the year. Mix up one or more of these sweet delicacies to get you in the holiday mood.

Not sure where to start? Try the following tasty treats; make sure you go for seconds and thirds (or countless numbers of time) My brothers and I scarfed up the stuff my mom baked months ahead of time and put in the freezer…we mouth-thawed them. YUMMELS

4. It’s Getting Cold (and Dark)

You’ve already broken out the warm scarves and sweaters, so go ahead and pull out the plaid blankets, evergreen-scented candles, and string lights, too. We also think that the coziness of twinkling lights and hot chocolate next to a crackling fire lined with stockings is the perfect way to beat the winter blues.

5. To Show Off Your DIYs

Or to get started on them! You’ve got tons of Christmas decoration ideas Pinned, but you don’t want to be scrambling to glue and paint things the night before your guests come over. Make a wreathnow, decorate ornaments for the annual exchange, and prep a Christmas card display before all the holiday mail starts coming in. We bet you won’t be able to resist hanging up your newly made decorations.

6. To Enjoy Them Longer

Let’s face it—putting up Christmas decorations is fun, but it can also be a lot of work. Lugging all of the ornaments and boxes out of the basement or attic is kind of a bummer if you know you’ll have to do it all over again to put them away a week later. Why not leave more time to sit back and appreciate your efforts? You could even mix it up with a new color scheme for your Christmas home decor this year.

7. To Sing a New Tune

We know people have mixed feelings about this one, but hear us out. There’s no better time to play Christmas music than while decorating, and many artists release new holiday songs around this time. Besides, you’ve been listening to the same Top 40 hits all year. This is Christmas music’s time to shine. Crank up classics like “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls” and sing along!

Bonus: Make an ornament out of favorite Christmas songs! Print out copies of the sheet music, then cut into strips and decoupage onto a plain ornament. BAM!

8. To Spend More Time with Family

With all the holiday parties and shopping, the season can turn into one big blur. Set aside time for Christmas decorating early so you can relax and truly enjoy this moment with your family before all the craziness starts. Pick a hands-on activity you can work on together, such as a gingerbread house or easy ornaments for kids.

9. You’ll Have Somewhere to Take Christmas Card Photos

Uh, oh! You reached the end of the year and realized you don’t have nice photos of the family all together for the annual Christmas card—again. No worries; put up a few decorations as a backdrop and snap some pictures in sweaters so Grandma will get her card in time for the holidays. A festive strand of garland draped over a doorway or mantel provides the perfect framing effect for your photo. And since your decor is already out, well, you know what to do. Two birds, one stone.

“Upon waking, let the words THANK YOU flow from your lips, for this will remind you to begin your day with gratitude and compassion. make it a practice to begin each day by thinking first of someone else and then making a decision to actively do something, anything, that will bring a smile to someone’s face. When you become conscious of wanting to do something kind for another human being, you move into a higher way of being. It takes your thoughts off of yourself and WHAT’s IN IT FOR ME? and puts them on HOW MAY I SERVE? which is precisely how the universal mind we call Tao or God is always operating. When you’re aligned with a compassionate outlook, your entire day will reflect that kind of awareness.

Some suggestions for getting you started: Email a note of appreciation, say a kind word, apologize to an individual you’ve needed to make amends with, pick a few wildflowers and hand them to someone, give away some personal items such as books or jewelry, or send a smile toward someone that might brighten their moment….

–Wayne Dyer in EXCUSES BEGONE!

It’s one thing to Teach the Lesson. . .

It’s quite another to Learn it. . .

and absolutely another to simply

LIVE IT

My personal, favorite take away:

“IF YOU HAVE CHOICE BETWEEN BEING RIGHT OR KIND. . .PICK KIND”

Maybe the best way a person who has impacted us, lives on not so much by remembering their words but by actually living them to our fullest abilities. . .

I just recently RE-HEARD a story–who knows, maybe you’re RE-HEARING it right now, here, AGAIN?

THE STORY GOES. . .

In this African tribe, when someone does something wrong, they take the person to the center of the village where the tribe surrounds him and for two days say all the good he has done. The tribe believes each person is good but sometimes people make mistakes, which are really a cry for help. They unite together, put him in the CENTER to simply reconnect him with his GOODNESS!

W O W

I’ve told hundred of stories of all kinds.

I love the cliche: “ALL STORIES ARE TRUE; SOME OF THEM ACTUALLY HAPPENED.”

I want. . .

I NEED THIS STORY TO BE TRUE. . .

but I can’t verify it.

I tried. Actually, tried very hard.

SNOPES–Nothing!

GOOGLE–Nothing!

INTERNET–NOTHING!

It’s. . .it’s just a good story, with a great meaning that I really wanted. . .needed to be true.

True Story?

Robert Rule In 2003, this grieving father attended the trial of the man who killed his daughter. He stood in line as the other victim’s loved ones spewed hate upon him–he never flinched. You know what brought him to tears? When Robert Rule took his turn and started out with, “There are many people in this room who hate you. I’m not one of them. I forgive you.”

Or what about in 2006 after a man walked into an Amish school house and opened fire and killed many. He himself died. The very families and community of those who lost loved ones ATTENDED HIS FUNERAL TO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR HIS WIDOW and gave her a handsome offering they had collected to help her through a most horrible time.

I had never even met his Nephew except a half an hour before his memorial service.

I expressed my condolences and asked if he or anyone else might want to speak during the service.

The Nephew said he would be sharing some thoughts.

I had a small opening welcome and short prayer and then invited The Nephew to come forward to share and he did so much more.

He told that his uncle was a World War II vet who never much talked about the war. Recently as his uncle declined and had to be placed in a nursing facility and later, on hospice care, he began sharing his story.

The Nephew shared a story his uncle told him within a week of his death. He had become very restless and no matter what medications were administered, he wasn’t calmed.

The Nephew shared he went to see his uncle one early morning before he left for work, after what the nursing home staff called and stated, it was a fairly difficult and anxious night.

His uncle, who had been fairly confused, told The Nephew of an early morning during the war.

He said that he was lost from his platoon and was wondering through the forest in the fog when he came upon a German soldier propped up against a tree, sleeping, with his gun nearby.

When the German soldier awoke and went for his gun, it was too late. The Uncle already was standing over him with his gun just inches from the soldier’s head.

The German Soldier begged him not to pull the trigger and asked him, “Do you have a family? Do you have kids?”

The Uncle said he did and the German Soldier asked if he could see pictures of his children and wanted to know if he in return could show him pictures of his kids.

They shared a moment.

They talked about families of loneliness, of missing what was most important to the both of them.

Two, tired, weary, fathers/husbands/sons/soldiers, they shared a moment, a moment of compassion, of humanity, of Commonness.

The Uncle, handed back the pictures and received the ones he had just shared with the German soldier and asked him, “Do you believe in Heaven?”

The German soldier nodded and agreed that he did believe in heaven.

The Uncle then said, “Maybe we’ll meet again there.”

And he pulled the trigger and fatally shot the German soldier in the head.

Psssssssssst: Come back to me.

We are in the middle of a memorial service of a man I had never met, hearing a story from The Nephew, another man I had never met, and I, like the forty or so others, for the first time, heard THAT Story.

You want to talk about ‘hear-a-pin-drop-silence?’

The air was sucked out of the room. . .and before the next breath could be taken, before any of us could dare believe what we were about to hear next, The Nephew asked, almost in unbelievable horror, “Uncle…How, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO LIVE WITH YOURSELF?”

He related that the Uncle, just above a raspy whisper stated, “Who says I have?”

The Nephew shared that there was an awkward silence between them that early morning in the nursing home. He said The Uncle with a tear running down the side of his cheek also shared, “Every day I ask God to forgive me. . .and every day He does.”

The first thought I had when The Nephew sat down after sharing was, “How do I respond to that? What am I going to say?”

Funny, my first thought was about ME, huh?

“EVERY DAY I ASK GOD TO FORGIVE ME AND EVERYDAY I HE DOES,” I echoed and then, I echoed again.

Our lives are a mixture of all different colored threads…some much darker than others…and yet they all make up this thing called, “The Tapestry of our Lives.” All of those loose-ends, those dangling strings, those jumbled, tumbled up knots that make up the BACK of our Tapestries also, most definitely, CREATE the FRONT of our Tapestries as well.

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My name is Chuck Behrens, serving others to help others serve. I value your time and take your readership seriously. Follow along and together lets become Expert Members of Triple A: Accessible. Accountable. Available.